Welfare Reform and Work Bill

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. Earlier, he said he would protect the vul...

I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss that and to look at the issue he raises. I know ...

rose—

I will make some progress, and then I will give way, but many Members wish to speak and make thei...

I was interested to hear the Secretary of State talk about the benefits cap and fairness. Is he a...

I just explained, I think, that there are differences between gross and net figures. Now, we are ...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I am not going to give way to the hon. Lady again, because I thought it was pretty simple maths. ...

Given what the right hon. Gentleman was just saying about ESA, what is his response to Parkinson'...

As originally designed by the Labour Government, the work-related activity group was to be a tran...

The Secretary of State will readily acknowledge that people with Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosi...

As I said—the right hon. Gentleman should remember this—the purpose of the work-related activity ...

rose—

I want to make some progress. I will give way again later, but I am conscious of the fact that ov...

Forty.

Forty Members, so it is in colleagues’ interest to let me make some progress.

I also want t...

I want to bring the Secretary of State back to the cap. Lowering the cap is one thing, and it is ...

The problem with the cap when we set it previously was that it disproportionately affected London...

rose—

I have already given way to the hon. Gentleman, so I will make some progress. He is more than wel...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I will give way to the hon. Lady, because I have not yet done so.

On the level of the cap, the cost of living for my constituents is very similar to that in London...

The hon. Lady’s question is rather mixed; I thought that she was asking me to impose an even stri...

On that point about protecting the vulnerable, particularly the disabled, our manifesto commitmen...

All the data that we have committed to publishing will be open and available to everybody, so eve...

rose—

I have given way quite a lot and I am conscious that 40 Members wish to make speeches. [Interrupt...

The Secretary of State knows that the number of those earning over £25,000 now is 800,000 fewer t...

I do not agree. If the hon. Gentleman looks at our record over the past five years, he will see t...

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The impact assessment for the Bill has only just arrived ...

We will investigate the matter. I would have thought that the hon. Lady would give me a little mo...

We released them earlier and they have been available since before the debate began, so I will si...

Child Poverty Action Group figures indicate that 21% of the children in my constituency grow up i...

No. The hon. Lady should realise that the main way out of poverty is to get into work and then to...

rose—

Order. The Secretary of State has given way quite a lot. We cannot have three people at once shou...

Let me give the hon. Member for Lanark and Hamilton East (Angela Crawley) some figures for Scotla...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I do not want to intrude on internal fear and loathing among Opposition Members. They will have t...

I beg to move,

That this House, whilst affirming its belief that there should be controls o...

rose—

I will give way in a moment. Universal credit is a reform which, even though it is running four y...

Was my right hon. Friend as shocked as I was at the response of the Secretary of State to his int...

My hon. Friend raises an important point, which I wanted to return to. The implication of what th...

There seems to be an omission from the list of measures that the right hon. Gentleman supports. W...

I look forward to coming to that part of my speech. The Bill, as I understand it, says that the l...

For the sake of clarity for Opposition Members if not for Government Members, will the right hon....

As I told the House, we will table amendments to deal with unfairness in those measures and in ot...

I want to be very clear about this. Is it now the official Opposition’s position that they suppor...

We support removing unfairness from the Bill that the Secretary of State published. For that reas...

rose—

I will give way one more time.

The right hon. Gentleman is very generous in giving way. I want to establish clarity for those on...

The Secretary of State does not need to wait until the Committee because we will table a raft of ...

My right hon. Friend is right to talk about removing unfairnesses. There are a number of unfairne...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That will indeed be the subject of one of our amendments, bec...

Do Labour Members not understand the fundamental idea that being in work should always make peopl...

I fear that the hon. Gentleman did not understand the Budget. According to the Institute for Fisc...

My right hon. Friend goes right to the heart of one of the difficulties involved. I support the i...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight this, because the IFS is absolutely clear that th...

Returning to my right hon. Friend’s commitment to amend unfairnesses in the Bill, will he confirm...

We will have to hear from the Government how they envisage that part of their proposal working, b...

Does my right hon. Friend accept that Conservative Members do not seem to understand that two out...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. For the first time, the majority of children below the povert...

Will the shadow Secretary of State join me in recognising the unpardonable folly of these proposa...

There do need to be some safeguards in place, as I have been spelling out. Indeed, the Government...

The right hon. Gentleman has talked a lot about child poverty. The benefit cap, according to the ...

As the hon. Lady well knows, the big impact on child poverty will come from the huge cuts in work...

The shadow Secretary of State is making a brave effort to defend whatever his party’s policy is o...

Child poverty fell dramatically under the previous Government; now it has plateaued. I fear that ...

Is my right hon. Friend aware that anything up to billions of pounds will go missing from local a...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Affordable home building is already at a historic low, and th...

rose—

I give way to my hon. Friend, whose popularity among Conservative Members I have noted.

Obviously, a reduction in local authority rents is good for tenants—I fully understand that—but d...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The proposal will affect not only new house building funds, b...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the concern about the impact of the changes to housing renta...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Attention has been drawn to that issue, not least by the Fina...

The right hon. Gentleman is a reasonable man, so I am surprised that he cannot see the advantages...

I think the hon. Gentleman was momentarily distracted, because I have welcomed both his first and...

My right hon. Friend is, like me, a London MP. The driver of child poverty in my constituency is ...

I certainly have not seen such evidence. We have just seen the impact assessment, and the figures...

It is always a mystery to me why more Labour Members do not agree with the right hon. Member for ...

I have no doubt that my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Frank Field) will contribute...

These serious issues are arousing passions on both sides of the House. I am slightly concerned th...

I am glad to be able to reassure the hon. Gentleman that he will be pleased with what happens whe...

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I made a point of order earlier about when the impact ...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point of order. If a mistake has been made by the Vote Off...

rose—

I can see that the Secretary of State has something to say, and I am delighted to call him furthe...

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I rise only to say that we sent the impact ...

Order. The Secretary of State has explained what he and his Department have done. If there has be...

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I seek your guidance as to whether Members ...

I simply observe that the debate started at 5.34 pm and it is now 6.36 pm, so it has been under w...

It is a pleasure to speak in support of this very important Bill, which is one of the measures we...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I will give way.

He is not my hon. Friend. [Laughter.] I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker.

How many children ...

I do not have that number to give the hon. Lady. However, her party is also committed to making l...

The hon. Gentleman is being generous in giving way. He made a point about making work pay. I rais...

We need to give carers every possible support. They perform an important and difficult role. Havi...

Even with the changes to universal credit, the taper remains exactly where it was, so every hour ...

I was not doubting that for a second. With the tax credit changes, we need to be sure that the pe...

We agree that people in work and people not in work should face the same choices, but does the ho...

Yes, but clearly the principle is that people should have to make the same choices if they are cl...

rose—

Order. It is obvious that a great many people wish to speak this evening and that there is a limi...

I rise to urge the House not to give the Welfare Reform and Work Bill a Second Reading.

On ...

The hon. Lady is making an important point. Does she think that all lone parents are able to work...

I believe we must have benefits that are suited to the situation, and the Conservative proposals ...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will not; I will make some progress.

I am one of those children from a single parent fami...

At the moment, 1 million more children are expected to grow up in poverty by 2020 across the UK. ...

I could not agree more.

As I was saying, there was limited support for single parents, and ...

Listening to my hon. Friend talk about women having to prove they have been raped and about 18 to...

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. It is very clear from her experiences that these cut...

Does the hon. Lady agree that the changes on conditionality to three and four-year-olds are an in...

I agree with the hon. Lady wholeheartedly. We will certainly have to look at that. The Joint Mini...

As a member of the workers’ and one nation party, I am very proud to support the Welfare Reform a...

rose—

No, we have heard enough from the SNP for now.

Unlike the previous speaker, I am going to t...

Does my hon. Friend agree that, while the most vulnerable must be protected, welfare must be a sa...

I agree that it is a generous safety net, and that will continue under this Government. Despite t...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, when dealing with the work plan and Jobcentre Plus, the most ...

The hon. Lady makes a valid point. This is about outcomes and about giving tailored support. We m...

Madam Deputy Speaker, if I leave the Chamber shortly after my speech, I shall come back immediate...

It is always a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Frank Field), who, despit...

My hon. Friend is the chairman of the all-party group on youth employment, the name of which was ...

I do, and I thank my hon. Friend for that point. It is important to reflect on what we can do to ...

rose—

I am afraid I will not give way. Out of fairness to other Members, I must finish and then allow o...

We are very clear: we cannot and will not support the Bill. If it did what it said on the tin, th...

Of course, we accepted some of the changes to welfare in the last Parliament, but this goes too f...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. In many ways, young people are the biggest victims of th...

Let me take this opportunity to welcome the vision of welfare reform that has been set out by the...

According to the Government’s rhetoric, work is the best route out of poverty, but is this not th...

No, it is not about rolling back the frontiers of the state. The points that the hon. Lady has ra...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his honesty. Having claimed, as his colleagues have claim...

I do not accept that. I hope that Members will forgive my slip of the tongue. The increase in the...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way once more, but I am subject to the time limit.

I assume the hon. Gentleman knows that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has noted that it is “ari...

I invite the hon. Lady to note the analysis showing that the income of a typical renting househol...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am afraid that I cannot, because I am subject to the time limit.

We concluded that it sho...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I have some time left, so I will.

That is very gracious of the hon. Gentleman.

In my constituency, 3,900 working families wil...

First and foremost, we are introducing a national living wage, which will deal with the current p...

I listened with great interest to the Secretary of State’s attempt to reinvent himself as the wor...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No, I am afraid I do not have the time.

Life does not proceed in a straight line. Let us ta...

There are many measures in this Bill, but I shall discuss just one or two aspects of it.

I ...

Does my Dorset constituency neighbour agree that we have to view alongside the tax allowances mea...

I agree with my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour.

Clause 3 sets out the reporting obl...

We support many of the measures in the Bill, which will be important in the debates we will have ...

Does the hon. Gentleman not understand that the very firm view in Scotland is that those addition...

My point was that there is a cost. How people decide to distribute it is another matter. The one ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not give way.

The one thing I do know is that the people who will complain most ...

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his point about the difference in the cap on welfare and...

Indeed. The Policy Exchange think tank, which prepared the welfare manifesto for the Government, ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am running out of time. I would be happy to give way if I could get an extra minute out of it.<...

Thank you for calling me to talk in this important debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. I shall start by...

Our hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr Burrowes) said that £30 billion a year is b...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out that the current welfare bill is unsustainable, b...

Should the hon. Gentleman not recognise that if these people want to work, it is the lack of supp...

The hon. Lady raises a perfectly valid point. There is a philosophical difference here: do we tak...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I regret that there is no more time. Above all, we need to inspire those with disabilities into a...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham). Unfortunately, the £6...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I will. [Interruption.]

We are friends, I believe. I think we are all friends in here—I hope we are.

Absolutely.

Thank you. I do not have children, so I often tread carefully in these sorts of debates because I...

As my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) described, people’s circumstances...

Does the hon. Lady recognise The Children’s Society’s comments? It said it supports plans to add ...

I used to work for The Children’s Society and it does some excellent work. What I am concerned ab...

rose—

I will try to get everyone in, but I now have to reduce the time limit to four minutes. Let us st...

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate. I wish to pick up on a few p...

Welfare reform is needed, but if it is badly thought through it will hurt people, including low-p...

It is a pleasure to follow the thoughtful and interesting speech of the hon. Member for Ogmore (H...

Order.

8.23 pm

I speak on behalf of Plaid Cymru.

So, we have another round of cuts to social protection an...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not. The hon. Lady should have been here from the start.

That is the reasoning of th...

The Bill marks a true revolution in how the Government administer welfare, with the roles and res...

Unlike the hon. Member for Erewash (Maggie Throup), I will not support the Bill tonight, because ...

I am sure that all of us in this House believe in social justice, but I support this Bill because...

Ours is a disabling society. Some are born impaired, some acquire impairments. Some of those are ...

Someone close to me who has bipolar disorder used to use her employment and support allowance to ...

I thank my hon. Friend for that very well-made point.

According to the House of Commons Lib...

Child tax credits will only be paid to families with up to two children, even if the third is dis...

I absolutely and fundamentally agree.

While £30 a week may seem like small change to the Se...

We hear that there is something of a quandary among Labour Members about how to vote, perhaps cha...

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman has reflected on the fact that in 1997 the employment rate am...

The employment statistics are very much on the side of the agenda we have been pursuing: employme...

I want to reiterate two of the points my hon. Friend has made. First, I am also an employer and h...

My hon. Friend corroborates my point. I repeat that this is not a fantasy: every employer to whom...

The Bill’s title is one of the finest examples of doublespeak I have seen outside of Orwell’s own...

My hon. Friend mentioned sanctions. As reported in today’s Paisley Daily Express, my constituent ...

My hon. Friend makes a point that any SNP Member could have made, and he makes his point well on ...

The Welfare Reform and Work Bill has to be seen in the context of the announcements on the living...

I make this clear: I would swim through vomit to vote against the Bill, and listening to some of ...

In 2003 the former Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath was spending 0.9% of GDP on tax credits. ...

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the measures in the Bill do not recognise the fact that two-t...

We need to enable more people to get better work, and that is what my Government are focused on d...

The Bill as it stands will hurt some of the most vulnerable people in our society. I cannot suppo...

The United Kingdom represents 1% of the world’s population; it also has 4% of the world’s wealth ...

In order to keep to the time limit, I will turn immediately to the Government’s intention to incr...

Order.

9.17 pm

When viewed alongside the recent Budget, this important Bill shows a clear determination among Co...

It is hard to see how the changes contained in the Bill will not result in hardship for the most ...

This Bill, in combination with the summer Budget, asks us to make three choices. It asks us to th...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I am sorry but we are short of time, so I will keep going.

It is right that those out of wo...

We in the Democratic Unionist party have been outspoken in our opposition to welfare reform and I...

This is a wicked Bill. It punishes the sick, the disabled and the poor. Not content in the last P...

As my hon. Friend the Member for South Down (Ms Ritchie) indicated, we will vote against this Bil...

This evening, we have seen the Conservatives breaking their promises to protect the poorest, to r...

It is a pleasure to conclude this extensive debate on the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, and I tha...

Order. There are far too many noisy conversations taking place in the Chamber. The hon. Member fo...

It is not fair that someone on benefits receives more than many people in work. The benefit cap r...

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. As the neutral arbiter of this House, is there any way that you ...

Notwithstanding the earnest expression on the face of the hon. Gentleman, his point of order was ...